Near the end of last year, the Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association International (MESA) worked with Tech-Clarity, Inc. to investigate and understand the maturity of artificial intelligence (AI) in manufacturing and best practices for manufacturers to achieve rapid business value.
Despite challenges, manufacturers are seeing real, measurable value from AI and analytics initiatives.
The latest iteration of its long-standing Analytics that Matter research programme resulted in the Making Manufacturing and AI Matter report. The data- and case study-laden report shares fresh insights straight from the shop floor.
Based on feedback from over 420 manufacturing professionals, this year’s study confirms that AI is not just a buzzword – it is a game-changer. Despite challenges, manufacturers are seeing real, measurable value from AI and analytics initiatives.
Below is a brief outline highlighting some of the insights the report offers to readers.
- Smart manufacturing – where companies are on the journey and the goals they have.
- Analytics benefits – why companies are investing, what challenges they face, the benefits and how quickly companies achieve them compared to results from other software projects.
- Descriptive analytics – how are companies moving forward on traditional analytics that describe a situation or summarise history.
- Predictive analytics – prediction is a #1 goal, so how are companies achieving it? What hurdles do they face, and how are they overcoming them to gain benefits?
- GenAI and supporting and guiding analytics – what are manufacturers doing with GenAI? What are the challenges and benefits?
- DataOps – since the #1 hurdle for predictive and GenAI is data to build the model, data management and governance are areas where most manufacturers need to improve.
- Technology use – the research asked how companies want to and are obtaining analytics and AI and which current systems include what types of analytics.
- Takeaways & recommendations – is a summary of the highlights and what the data shows works best for manufacturing analytics and AI to deliver business value.
The research, conducted with Tech-Clarity through surveys and interviews from December 2024 to January 2025, offers a valuable snapshot of where the industry stands – and where it’s headed.
Making Manufacturing Analytics and AI Matter is available for MESA members in the Resource Library accessible from the website.
For more information visit: https://mesa.org/
